Zosia Kibalo
Photographer trying to capture all the colours of the world one gig at a time. I love experimenting with my photos, both digitally and old school arts and crafts style. I also find my voice through writing about art in any shape or form. Catch me hopping around grassroots venues bopping my head and camera to some good tunes!
Wolf Alice recently played their biggest headline show to date at Finsbury Park and we were their to witness the magic
Silver tinsel erupts in the air as ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ opens Wolf Alice‘s biggest headline show to date. For a few seconds it catches the evening sun before slowly drifting down onto Finsbury Park, where thousands start dancing.
The set moves exactly like a Wolf Alice record should. It lets you breathe before pulling the rug from underneath you. New songs like ‘Gospel Oak’, named after another pocket of North London, and ‘The Sofa’ wrap the park in a quiet stillness, only for tracks like ‘The Greatest Hits’ and ‘Lisbon’ to throw everyone straight back into beautifully unhinged chaos. One minute people are swaying with their arms around each other, the next they’re screaming every word back at the stage. It showed just how naturally Wolf Alice move between tenderness and complete mayhem.
At one point Theo points across one side of the park.
“I grew up over there.”
Then points the other way.
“And I live over there.”
It lasts no more than a few seconds, but it says everything. For all the world tours and festival headlines, North London still sits at the heart of this band. Even the weather seems to welcome them home. The sun took its time setting behind the trees before giving way to a cool breeze that arrives almost on Ellie’s cue.
What really suprised even my friend Barbara, a diehard fan of the band was hearing ‘Visions of a Life’. That record won Wolf Alice the Mercury Prize and became the album that pushed them onto another level. Hearing the title track now made perfect sense. It captures everything the band do so well, shifting between vulnerability, anger and moments of complete release without ever settling into one mood.
Wolf Alice have never tried to fit into one box because people don’t fit into one box either. That’s what this homecoming show seemed to celebrate more than anything.
To borrow Barbara’s words:
“Yesterday felt like London saying: ‘We accept you as you are. We feel like contradictions too, and you make us feel seen.’” I don’t think I could put it better.
Cycling home afterwards, I caught myself singing, “I’ll be fine, I’ll be okay…”
As I rode back towards Seven Sisters, I kept thinking about Theo pointing across the park. Wolf Alice have written so many songs about uncertainty, identity and trying to find your place in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m not “British enough” to fully understand the pure pride behind bands like Oasis – but I think I’m enough of a Londoner to feel that same kind of way for these guys. They made us all feel at home.
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By Zosia Kibalo
